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Editor's note: Towards the end of the story, the UT center was incorrectly identified. The name has now been corrected to the 'Interim Gender and Sexuality Center'.
Tucked in a corner amidst the ruckus of Lamar Street's jackhammers and tire screeches sits a little bookstore that probably goes unnoticed by most. If you were to take a closer look, you'd see fine glass with displays ranging from rainbow flags and an array of book jackets by female authors to large bumper stickers declaring sarcastic political meanderings.
This is BookWoman, the only feminist bookstore in Texas.
But store owner Susan Post now finds herself facing the decision of having to close the doors on a store steeped in Austin history and just three months away from its 30th anniversary. The former UT librarian is not going to shut down the store and abandon the many women who it served from the beginning. The store was originally founded on The Drag by 13 lesbian activists, Post said.
At the behest of Attieh Aman, a former UT professor who edited a compilation of stories by Saudi-Arabian women, Post sent out an SOS letter in July asking for donations. Aman, Post said, came in and asked how business was doing.
"I said, 'look around, no one is in here,'" Post said. "She then offered a check for $25 and said she knew of a lot of women who could, and would, come and support."
That day, after sending out the letter, Post said she had about five online orders. One of them was from a soldier stationed in Iraq who forwarded the e-mail three times, she said.
The phones "were ringing off the hook," Post said. "When so many people came in, I thought, wow, people are really taking action."
Enduring hardships
BookWoman first appeared in the pages of The Daily Texan in 1975. The article detailed the opening of the feminist bookstore in Austin.
Since its inception, the store hasn't exactly had a smooth 30 years. It first moved from its Guadalupe Street location after arguments erupted between the original 13, Post said. Half of the women wanted to allow men and women, and the other half wanted to restrict it to women.
"I guess some of them kind of changed sides," she said. "They had fluid sexualities and of course, lesbians had children, and they wanted their sons to be allowed in the store."
After the split, the founders went separate ways. But Post decided to stay with the initial mission and continue to reach out to women. She took over and ran the store from her house.
Since then, the store has changed locations and names several times. They also endured acts of vandalism and prejudice, Post said. Recent acts include a bottle thrown through the window and offensive graffiti carved into the bathroom walls, she said.
Before BookWoman moved to its current location, it spent the 1980s as one of the last retail venues on Sixth Street.
"When we opened on Sixth Street we had no air-conditioning, so we had to leave the doors open during the day," Post said. "People would yell insults in the door. We were ostracized and insulted our entire first year in that location. But I think people got used to us with time."
Jeers from passers-by haven't been the store's sole problems. They now face many of the same financial blockades that caused the closing of such Austin independent stalwarts as Sound Exchange, Longhorn Copies and 33 Degrees. BookWoman has suffered from Austin's corporate growth, a downturn in the economy, rapid rent increases and the recent crippling construction on Lamar, Post said.
But instead of closing shop like its independent predecessors, the store sent out the SOS letter to the Austin community through its list serve, asking their regulars to forward the letter to anyone they knew.
What followed is the unexpected outpouring of support.
A touchstone for women
The only reason for feminist bookstores to stay around is to serve women and provide a safe place for them, Post said. And BookWoman has done just that, she said, by acting as a performance space, a safe space and a center for education and outreach for all types of women. The store has supported and helped further the careers of local female writers, artists and musicians. BookWoman also collaborates with local service organizations and political venues such as the Women's Chamber, Monkey Wrench Books and UT's School of Social Work.
Post said she also donates BookWoman books to underprivileged children and schools. She teaches school counselors and teachers about the benefit of self-help books about anger management, girl's self esteem and alternatives to violence. She also attends conferences every year in which she takes 20 boxes of books and distributes them to needy women in Corpus Christi, Dallas and Houston.
"I deal with people who have never bought a book before," she said.
Tanya Voss, an assistant professor in UT's School of Social Work and a lesbian mother of two, said the store is an important haven where women can go in the coming-out process.
As a mother, Voss said she found BookWoman particularly helpful for literature about raising children in a lesbian family. The store also stocks many children's books, even some in Spanish, about a child's life with two mothers, and Voss said she has given copies of the books to her son's teachers and the school library. The support the books have given her children has been invaluable, she said.
"BookWoman has been a constant touchstone in the Austin community," Post said. "A couple bars and coffee shops for lesbians have come and gone, but BookWoman has stayed around as a constant resource for the Austin lesbian community."
A larger women's studies context
Many UT professors have opted to have their students buy books for classes at BookWoman instead of other retail outlets. Kristen Hogan, an assistant instructor and English Ph.D. candidate, said she encourages her students to buy their books at BookWoman.
"It is important for my students to see our class books in a larger women's studies context," Hogan said.
UT English professor Laura Furman sends her students to BookWoman for books and even certain projects. Furman said she will take her Women's Autobiographical Studies class on a field trip to BookWoman. She plans to have the students pick out a book to discuss in class.
The University's new Interim Gender and Sexuality Center, located on the first floor of the Student Services Building, will also include a resource library stocked by BookWoman.
Alyx Vesey, a journalism and history senior, is the assistant director of the University Women's Resource Center and a former member of the UT feminist sorority, Alliance for a Feminist Option. Vesey said she first went to BookWoman for a class and has continued to visit the store since then.
"The resources and conversation that BookWoman provides is particularly important here, given that Austin is a hot bed for discussion because of the politics here and the presence of the university," she said.
What lies ahead
While BookWoman's future may still be uncertain, Post is optimistic about the recent interest in the store. The response from the community was vast and even people that have never even heard of the store are coming in, Post said.
"Book selling has to be an act of love," she said. "When people come back and say, 'You are important,' I realize that we still need to be doing what we are doing for a while to come."
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